Coach goes in to stands
 

Didn't see it, wasn't there, only heard about it. Tournament game. Scrum in front of bench, girls scrambling for ball, girl gets backhanded, or slapped across face. No foul, fans behind bench start yelling at coach to remove player who did the slapping, coach goes 4 rows up into stands to confront fans. My question is.... as an official do we have any authority, or penalties on coach, or do we let the administration handle it?

Of course, we could. They are leaving the bench area, aren't they? Now I would probably have game management involved because if I am getting rid of a coach, I am getting rid of a fan at this level too. You are not going to say something that makes a participant react and then you are staying as well. But that is just me.

Peace

+1 Good point, leaving the bench area. In my head i was thinking they did nothing towards me. Wondering if it will be looked into by the State Association...

I had a BV game this season where a coach was disgusted with one of his players (his son), stormed off the bench and slammed the door on the way out of the gym. There were still 2 seconds left in the 2nd period. T for leaving the bench area.

In NCAA-M it's an F2 technical foul for a team member to go in the stands when a fight has broken or may break out, but the rule says nothing about a coach I don't believe.

Not sure if I'd eject the coach for this if he didn't get physical with the fans, but he's certainly getting a technical and the offending fans will be escorted out.

10-5-1 addresses unsporting fouls committed by bench personnel, including the head coach. 10-5-1-f specifically mentions "Inciting undesirable crowd reactions." And, as I often point out, the list in that rule is not exhaustive ("includes, but is not limited to").

So, definitely get at least one TF here for leaving the bench area. But, if he uses inappropriate language, gets into a fight, or incites more crowd reactions while up in the stands, I'd think it would be completely appropriate to get a second one.

If it gets to the point where the coach needs to go, I'm just giving one flagrant T rather than two directs. I'd wait until things settle down before deciding the penalties rather than signaling a T as soon as he leaves the bench.

Agreed. Not only on the Flagrant T call, but also just being patient and observing the whole situation before deciding. Maybe have to be there to judge, but I think he's only getting one tech regardless, either seatbelted, or ejected.